The sun has sunk below the horizon. In the last flash of red light, the dark shadows of a few lonely dwarf trees in the distance became more and more lonely and deep. The gently undulating meadow to the north gradually faded into darkness, and at last only an unrecognizable vague outline remained. A few anxious broken stars had long been hanging on the gray sky, flickering with cold light one by one, staring coldly at the earth; They can't wait to announce that the day is over and the night is coming.

It was completely dark.

The number of the team has been counted, including the wounded who could not be sent back, a total of 1,874 people, of which 1,236 are reinforcements from the Chinese army, and the rest are soldiers from the left battalion who broke through.

"That's it?"

"Hmm." Said the deputy. He kicked a saddle over, sat down on the grass next to him, and gave half of his dry food to Sun Zhongshan.

Sun Zhongshan took the dry food, wrapped the robe tightly with the horns, broke off a piece of cake, did not fill it in his mouth, and subconsciously twisted the dead side of the scone; Finely crumbs of bread trickled from between his fingers and fell into the barley. He waited for a pair of bright little eyes, as if asking a question, as if talking to himself, and said: "There are more than 3,000 horses in the left camp, and there are only more than 600 here...... Where did the rest of the people go? ”

The deputy was stunned for a moment, and did not answer for a while. He was a little confused. Where else can the soldiers of the left battalion go? Either killed in battle or captured; Whether they were captured or killed in battle, they were actually the same...... He smacked his lips and said, "There should be some people who haven't met us, and maybe they can run back to Heishui and Luhe by themselves." Besides, not all of the troops in the left battalion followed Duan Xiu, and some of them were scattered around the left to be on guard, although Duan Xiu's main force was defeated, the soldiers were likely to escape......

Sun Zhongshan did not answer. What the deputy said was not entirely unreasonable, and one thing did not make sense: why was the left battalion defeated, but the reinforcements of Luhe smoothly advanced all the way to this position? It was less than thirty miles away from the location of Duan Xiu's main force, and after stepping through the small forest in front of him, he could see the fire in the Chinese military camp from the horseback on horseback, and he could fight back and forth between the two places with his quick work, but he could not see the enemy's outposts and rangers. If it is said that the enemy's forces are too small to take care of it, then how can they break through the left army camp in one fell swoop? Could it be that the enemy was negligent for a moment? He glanced at the road in the dark of gray. This is the key road connecting Alegu and the Black Deer River, the hard dirt road that has been crushed by decades of people stepping on horses and treadling wheels, some sections of the road are so hard that even grass can't grow, as long as it is not the rainy season, two or three rains have not fallen, the road surface is not even turned over, and the enemy has no reason not to advance along the way after defeating Duan Xiu; Even if you consolidate the assembly, you dare to send one as a temptation, right?

He chewed on the dead dough cake, and he really couldn't figure out the joints.

The deputy was a rough soldier, not as thoughtful as him, after listening to him, scratched his head, and said with a smile: "But it's hard for me." You are the general of Zhengyin, how to beat you and give the order, even if I am asked to lead the death squad, I will never frown. After speaking, he swallowed the jerky cake in two bites, stood up and patted his buttocks, grabbed the iron helmet handed over by the soldiers and put it on, and said while tying the knot, "Anyway, I can't think about it, simply!" One by one, I'll take some people to the front to explore! He cursed and said, "I'll go and touch the bottom of the enemy, and see what kind of medicine is hidden in the gourd of the Turks!" ”

"Nope! Can't go! Sun Zhongshan dragged him down, "You can't startle the snake now!" The enemy doesn't know we're right under their noses, and this is our chance! ”

"What if you don't go?" The deputy stared at him, "The enemy's strength, deployment, defense, and movement, we don't know how to fight this battle!" He glanced at the few soldiers around him who were silently eating dry food and drinking water, and seeing that no one was paying attention, he sighed and whispered, "The general miscalculated this time." Duan Xiu was defeated so quickly and so miserably, with this little soldier we brought, no matter how we fight, we will knock chicken eggs on the stones! He silently smiled bitterly, smacked his lips, and finally said what was in his heart, "The general's military order...... Anyway, I don't plan to survive tomorrow. Fortunately, I am a boy at home, and the little ones can go up to the tree to dig out the bird's nest, and I will throw my life here, and I am not afraid that no one will avenge me in the future! ”

Sun Zhongshan glanced at him, wanting to say a few words of relief, but he felt that he couldn't talk about it. Not only did the deputy have the heart of death, but he also had the idea of martyrdom in this battle. But death is one thing, how to fight a war is another, and the two should not be confused. He forced a smile and said to his deputy, "What are you talking about!" I'll discuss military affairs with you, what are you talking to me about it......" He sat down with his deputy, took his own wine gourd and stuffed it to him, changed the topic and asked, "You just said that Duan Xiu's soldiers were not gathered together?" ”

The deputy thought that the gourd was filled with water, and he didn't plan to take it, but he felt that there seemed to be a fire burning in his chest, which made his mouth dry and his throat and eyes bitter, so he took it and took a sip of the gourd, and immediately glanced at Sun Zhongshan, and poured two or three sips, weighing the weight of the gourd and not rushing to answer, and said first: "This gourd is good." It just so happened that my water hyacinth fell off during the march, so I borrowed your ...... first" and then said, "If you want to say that the distance of ten or twenty miles in each section is also considered to be assembled, the soldiers of that section of the cultivation must be gathered in one place." Saying that, he smiled, "Old Duan Xiu has this temper, he never puts chicken eggs in a rice jar, and it is impossible to be lonely...... What a lonely pig or something! ”

Sun Zhongshan was amused by his words. But before the smile could bloom on his face, it flashed away at the corner of his mouth, and then he fell into deep thought. After being silent for a long time, he asked, "Do you think it's possible that Duan Xiu didn't die?" ”

The deputy didn't quite understand what Sun Zhongshan meant by this.

"I mean, the enemy took Duan Xiu's camp, and the reason why he didn't hit the Black Water Deer River was because he was restrained by Duan Xiu?"

This was still unclear, and the deputy still didn't quite understand, and looked at Sun Zhongshan with blinking eyes.

"Duan Xiu was successfully attacked by the enemy, will he break through in the chaotic melee and move closer to the rest of the army?"

The deputy kind of understood. He held the wine gourd in his hand and said a little hesitantly: "You mean, Duan Xiu is actually not dead, he broke through with the main force of the left battalion, and the people of Tu Du did not go east because they wanted to pursue and intercept his part of the people?" Without waiting for Sun Zhongshan to answer, he slapped his thigh vigorously and said excitedly, "Heh! Definitely! I'll just say that Duan Xiu's old thing can't die so quickly! Thinking that Duan Xiu, who was being pursued by the enemy's main force, probably still had a lot of soldiers with him, he was so happy that he forgot when and where this was, and suddenly stood up and shouted, "Someone!" ”

Watching the deputy fingers spitting and spitting Xingzi randomly assigning people to the south to find Duan Xiu, Sun Zhongshan was also a little excited. If Duan Xiu can contain the enemy, then the courage on his shoulders will be a little lighter; If the main force of the left battalion is still there, he will have two more points of confidence in tomorrow's battle; Maybe it can really make the impossible possible! He said to the lieutenants who had come over: "Look not only to the south, but also to the north; Send men from the west! But be careful, no matter what, you can't alarm the enemy, especially be careful, don't expose our team! ”